Michael Pollan was being interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR the other day (click) and said that his open letter on food (published earlier this month in the "Food Issue" of the New York Times Magazine) had been submitted to both campaigns. One (he did not specify which) responded with a request for him to compose a 500-word summary. The other did not respond.
He refused to summarize, saying that if it hadn't taken 8,000 words to explain it, he wouldn't have used that many. And, don't they have people on their staff that they pay to do that sort of thing for them?
Here's a start:
"... Which brings me to the deeper reason you will need not simply to address food prices but to make the reform of the entire food system one of the highest priorities of your administration: unless you do, you will not be able to make significant progress on the health care crisis, energy independence or climate change. Unlike food, these are issues you did campaign on — but as you try to address them you will quickly discover that the way we currently grow, process and eat food in America goes to the heart of all three problems and will have to change if we hope to solve them. ..."
- "After cars, the food system uses more fossil fuel than any other sector of the economy — 19 percent."
- "The goal of ensuring the health of all Americans depends on getting those costs under control. There are several reasons health care has gotten so expensive, but one of the biggest, and perhaps most tractable, is the cost to the system of preventable chronic diseases. Four of the top 10 killers in America today are chronic diseases linked to diet: heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes and cancer."
- "The impact of the American food system on the rest of the world will have implications for your foreign and trade policies as well. In the past several months more than 30 nations have experienced food riots, and so far one government has fallen. Should high grain prices persist and shortages develop, you can expect to see the pendulum shift decisively away from free trade, at least in food."
- "The deliberate contamination of our food presents another national-security threat. "